JIM'S GRAND DAY OUT

Jim and I usually celebrate each other's birthday with BIRTHDAY WEEK. This year was no exception for Jim. His birthday is May 28th and Birthday Week culminated in a GRAND DAY OUT in San Francisco. We started our day with a leisurely espresso and toasted baguette with butter and jam at our new favorite coffee shop, Centro Espresso, in Santa Rosa's Fountaingrove area. When we go there, we get a table outside and feel like we are in Paris and the espresso is the best we have found in Santa Rosa. After this good start, we climbed into the car and I started driving south. I am sure Jim probably guessed we were going to San Francisco, but he didn't know what I had planned for him until we headed through the Presidio, just past the Golden Gate Bridge. When he saw this, he knew what was up:

The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, commonly called the Legion of Honor, is one of our favorite museums in all of San Francisco. It sits on a breaktaking piece of real estate in Lincoln Park, perched on bluffs above the ocean, with a view to the Golden Gate. On this particular day we had to wait until the afternoon to see the bridge - when we arrived it was socked in with fog.

The museum building is in the classical European Beaux-arts style and has a wonderful courtyard with a replica of Rodin's "The Thinker," and a Louvre style light-gathering pyramid.

The Legion on Honor has an extensive Rodin display. This is one of our favorites. We can remember when it used to live outside, overlooking the City.

When we come to the Legion of Honor, we always visit our old favorites, but this time we specifically wanted to see the exhibit which was ending soon - Lalique, Tiffany and Faberge. Although crowded, we enjoyed the exhibit very much and were sad that photos weren't allowed. The creative genius displayed in these works of art - jewelry, accessories, lamps, vases, etc., was stunning and a bit overwhelming. After all those wonderful Art Nouveau treasures we were hungry, so we had lunch at the cafeteria. This cafeteria never disappoints and this day was no exception. We chose a table outside in the weak sun and enjoyed the ambiance even though it was quite chilly.

Here is the charcuterie plate that I ordered. It was absolutely delicious.

Being thus fortified, we set out to visit all our old favorites. I think Jim's favorite gallery is the one housing the Rodin collection.

My favorite part is the approach to the modern wing. I always have a sharp intake of breath when I turn the corner and first see the Monet "Water Lillies" through the series of portals.

As much as I love the multi-doored view to the Water Lillies, it is not my favorite work in this area. I actually have several favorites and would be hard pressed to choose. For example, I really like this work by Della Robbia because I first learned about him when we were visiting Florence with Chuck and Nancy. We went to a hilltop church above a huge cemetery. Inside you couldn't see anything unless you put a few coins into the box, and then the lights came on just long enough to take a quick photo. The interior of the church was totally decorated by Della Robbia, who has this distinctive white on blue porcelain style of work.
Another favorite of mine and of Jim's is a HUGE painting by the Russian Konstantin Makovsky called "The Russian Bride's Attire," painted in 1887. We always pause in front of this canvas for a long time. The colors are so vibrant and there is so much going on in the painting. My photos don't do justice. Here is a small portion of the painting. The girl, probably the bride's sister, is holding the bride's hand and gazing up at her. I think my favorite part is the richness of the oriental carpet.

This photo gives you an idea of the scale of the painting, eventhough it only shows a portion of it. The gown in the lower right is that of the girl above.
As we pass this painting, we are getting closer to the 20th century and find lovely art nouveau and art deco pieces, like these:

(Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, "A Coign of Vantage" 1895)

(Elie Nademan, "Buck Deer" 1915)

And of course, Monet's Water Lillies are at the very end of this gallery.

The Legion of Honor never disappoints and we always feel fulfilled after having visited our friends there. For more information about the Legion of Honor, check their website: http://www.famsf.org/legion/index.asp

After this we drove down Clement Street toward the ocean and found a nice little park with benches. This sailboat was having a great sail as the day was quite windy.

We didn't stay long here because it was too cold. We did continue on down to the beach and turned up into Golden Gate Park at the Queen Wilhelmina Gardens, anchored by this lovely restored windmill.


It is so great to just wander in the Park - there's a little bit of everything! We stopped when we saw this pond

and watched the Great Blue Heron stalk his prey, not seeming to move.

Later on we parked again and walked through the park. We came across this interesting altar-like area off the beaten path, behind some redwoods. There were some offerings set into niches. Hmmm....

This path went through first a Rhododendron area, where we saw this exotic looking Rhody flower:


and then we came out in a fuchsia area. Some of these flowers looked downright tropical, like something we might have seen in Ecuador.



Inevitably, we ended up at the De Young Museum in the Park. Jim and I are still mourning the old museum building, which had to be torn down due to earthquake damage. We haven't yet warmed up to the new, very modern, building, but were comforted to see that the pond was still gracing the front.



Inside, of course, we went right for "her," the whole reason we keep coming back to the De Young. The Boris Lovet-Lorski "Venus" has been a favorite of Jim's for his whole adult life. Once I first met her, she became my favorite too. If you have ever seen the movie "Vertigo" you will notice her in a cameo at the Legion of Honor, amidst large potted palms. Now she is at the De Young, in less exotic surroundings, but still lovely.


Here you get a real idea of her incredibly long legs.


After wandering through some Jackson Pollack-like canvases we came across this really interesting contemporary art glass display in another gallery. There were the obligatory wonderful Dale Chihully pieces, along with many other very creative pieces, some using refraction to give the full picture hidden within the glass. This piece is a little more traditional, but not less amazing when one considers it is made of glass.

This next one I saw once at an airport gallery (I think it was SeaTac), on the 2nd floor.

Yes, this is glass! It is called "Minotours" 1997 by Dan Dailey. I think it has a fabulously primitive feel to it. The last thing we saw in this gallery which blew me away was this wonderful Jaguar bench. I couldn't get close enough to see what the material was - but everything else in this gallery was made of glass.... For more information on the De Young, check their website: http://www.famsf.org/deyoung/


After the De Young, we drove over to the Castro to another sort of museum...our friends Mark's and Richard's house, where there are such wonders as the famed, yet rare JACKALOPE.

Richard cooked up a grand dinner surprise for Jim and set an absolutely stunning table!



The surprise was not only being there for gourmet dinner, but also all the wonderful guests who arrived to help Jim celebrate!


Lynda brought the candelabra used to celebrate Jim's 70th birthday in Paris. This helped set the mood.


First course was a lovely carrot ginger soup. This was followed by the an incredible salad made from arugula, fingerling potatoes, anaheim chilis and other wonderful ingredients, topped in a dollop of goat cheese.


Our entree (though I was already full) was a delicious Boeuf Bourgonone.

And, (really groaning now) we finished with an apricot upside down cake. It was so great to look around the table and see good friends in this celebration of life. At one time I just stopped to observe - there were at least 7 different conversations going on, across the table, at full voice, and none of them dull. What a lovely end to birthday week and Jim's Grand Day Out!

Until the next adventure,

Keep on stopping to smell the roses!

Audrey

DI ROSA ART & NATURE PRESERVE

Dear Friends,

As you know, it has been about 6 weeks since we left Ecuador. The ensuing weeks have been spent with normal everyday stuff - work, laundry, cooking, etc. We did have one exciting event at the end of February - our annual Cabaret Night celebration with about 25 friends. We convert our studio into a cafe and everyone has to perform.


This weekend we had an event of a different sort. Our friend, Noreen, pictured above at Cabaret Night several years ago, celebrated her 50th birthday with a series of events. We were able to join Noreen and 16 other friends in touring the Di Rosa Art and Nature Preserve in nearby Napa County. On the way there, we passed through the lovely mustard blooming throughout Sonoma County in pastures and vineyards.
The Di Rosa Preserve is located on the Carneros Highway in Napa County, not far from the town of Sonoma. Of the 460 acres of land Rene Di Rosa purchased in 1960, 217 acres remain, forever preserved in trust for the public. The art collection of over 2,000 pieces is located in three main galleries. We were only allowed to take photos outside so I will mostly be sharing photos of sculptures with you.

We took a jitney from the gatehouse gallery to the large gallery located around the lake that Rene Di Rosa made from a pond. Here are some of our gang - Derrick, Noreen, Noreen's brother (who flew in as a surprise from New Jersey!) and Eddie, who made the whole Noreen Event happen!

And a few more of our party, Richard, Teresa, Mark and Katie.

Rene's pond is now a 35 acre lake, home to Great Blue Herons, Snowey Egrets and Canada Geese, among others. He wanted his own tropical island, so he built one.

Rene's wife, Veronica, was an artist herself. She created these steel cows which float on the lake and turn gracefully in the breeze.
Rene Di Rosa got introduced to young artists when he was learning vinticulture at UC Davis in the 1960s. It was then that he started his collection which features over 900 contemporary Northern California artists. One of these, William T Wiley, made this sculpture, which graces the doorway of the original Di Rosa stone house.

William T Wiley was unknown to me until we visited Di Rosa. He and two of his colleagues, William Allan and Robert Hudson, got their start in high school art class in Richland, Washington, coincidentally the same town Chuck and Nancy lived in for years before relocating to Ecuador. I wish I could show you some of their paintings as they were quite breathtaking and interesting.

When Mr. Di Rosa bought his acreage, he brought in 2 peacocks. There are now more than 50 of them on the property and they kept us entertained when we were outside. This one is posing with the hanging car sculpture.
And this one posed beautifully on this bench.

I got up close and personal with this bad boy. Everyone was worried that I was going to be attacked because he was rattling his feathers in a very aggressive manner. What the others didn't know (couldn't see) is that there was a hen right in front of me. That's who he was interested in, not me.

The stone house was on the property when Di Rosa bought it. It had been built by a Frenchman who had a vineyard here in the 1800s. Di Rosa tore down the house and re-built, adding bathrooms, electricity and this working bell tower, reusing all the original stones.

Inside, the house is pretty much as it was when the Di Rosa's lived here...FILLED WITH ART. There was art in the shower, on the toilet and even on the ceilings. It was nearly overwhelming.

Here is just one of the many sculptures outside the stone house.

This one is a large metal harp. Teresa has just played it using a mallet to hit the "strings." The sound was like that of a piano harp, only much deeper.

We did have time to briefly tour the sculpture meadow. The sculptures were varied and mostly quite large. The obelisk below is made of stacked filing cabinets!

The artist ground up an MG car into milligram pieces. The car pieces are in the file drawers! Here's another view of the filing cabinets with other sculptures.
The gryphyn, made of steel implements, is kinetic. It rests on one point only, so sways in the wind.
I particulary liked this "brillo pad" sculpture.

Leaving the sculpture meadow, our tour heads back toward the suspended car.

At the end of our tour our group chose to walk back to the gatehouse instead of ride the jitney. This allowed us to see much more than we could have riding.

Another kinetic piece beside the 35 acre lake. The whole property, including the 150 year old olive trees, is protected by the Napa County Land Trust.

Another view of the kinetic cow.

And, across from the gatehouse, I spotted this metal dragon on the other shore.

If you ever come to visit us and want to go to Di Rosa, we'll take you for sure! We were so impressed that we became members so that we can visit again and again. With so much to look at, it will take many visits to see everything, and many more visits after that to absorb everything.

Here's hoping you are all well and happy.

Audrey